Thursday, January 05, 2006

rejuvenation


vacation is so good. as much as i love my job, i really love all the time off we are awarded as teachers. there is no shortage of ideas in my head as to how to use all this time.

for instance, i took a day and caught up on some backlogged reading at a really good coffeehouse about a half hour away. the combination of caffeine and fresh, stimulating ideas (i read adbusters' year in review cover to cover, some of brian mclaren's generous orthodoxy...which is so far incredibly boring and frustrating to me...and some stuff on WWII.) served as a sort of idea lubricant (ok, maybe more like an idea laxative, as i was pretty backed up). regardless of the metaphor, i felt like my soul just opened up and began to flow onto the pages of my journal. i probably sat there for 5 hours, and could have stayed for 5 more had it not been for kara's cooking beckoning me home. many of the ideas were simply more ideas to investigate, books to read, questions to ask people, etc., while others were specific action points that i wanted to take in my life, like making a list of songs that i would learn to play and sing well, instead of just fiddling around with my guitar every once and a while. or getting rid of my tv, which my sports and movie watching habit make pretty difficult. i have made real progress in that area though.

i wrote down other do-this-less and do-this-more ideas, but oddly enough, one of my bulleted ideas was not an idea at all, but rather an observation. i spent a few minutes writing down everything everyone else in the coffeehouse was doing and talking about. this was a cinch, as i am a avid people watcher and a presidential caliber eavesdropper. i was impressed mainly by the number of really wonderful conversations occuring all around me, dealing with many quality of life issues, the merits of mega-churches, the validity of nietzsche's philosophy, the psycho-spiritual effects of the recent bleak weather, and the eternal debate over the greatest rock band of all time.

this social surveillance reminded me that i need these deep interactions with other people nearly as much as i need sweet smelling air, lemonade in the summer, and an annual mountain trek...oh, and also really good pizza. this is probably why i e-enjoy e-participating in this e-community with many of you. but man, i really need the real thing too, you know?

i hope i can get together with some remnant of my college roommates next weekend. actually, i hope jon quits his job to show his commitment to stay connected with all of us. and i hope we make plans to get together again, not too long from now. i hope that kara never gets sick of talking with me for hours and hours on end about the past, present and future of music, faith, politics, movies, and slowly, little by little, football.

i am so shirking my work duties right now. if you're reading this, i hope to hear from you. my well-being depends on it...

1 comment:

Mary said...

good post, cory.

and i can't tell you how jealous i am of you sitting in a coffeeshop just thinking and drinking and listening and writing (and reading the new adbusters year in review?!? so jealous!).

i'll wish many satisfying conversations for you in 2006.